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Please don't tell me we have five minutes to get this out!

May 29, 2009

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By: Edward Weatherall

Commercial Director

The IDM

I think we have to take a bit of perspective on time critical events, when looking at email marketing.

The time you send an email, does not guarantee when it will be opened, so if you are struggling to get content or creative signed off and you wanted to send it at 14 hundred hours, take a step back and a deep breath. There are a lot of factors that make 2pm not that important.

The other part of this crazy behaviour is if the message you are getting out there is so important why is it only sitting in one email? Should it not be on your website or if you are really brave on twitter.

The next common behaviour is even more bizarre, after all that panic about getting the email out of the door, it seems a lot of people wipe their brow, make a few apologies for what was said and then move on. One of the great advantages of digital is the tracking available and the wealth of knowledge that can be gained from the reporting. You can see which clients are really interacting with what you had to say, you could maybe even call them up.

Yes there are times when being first to market is important and for this email is one of the best ways to push that message out. In Professional Services commenting on the budget is big news. The big firms can have a breakfast meeting in a fancy hotel or speak on the BBC, other firms outside of the top five need an effective way to ensure they are also helping us decipher what the treasury just said and how it will affect us.

If you’re the fourth or fifth email it is likely you have missed your chance as most people have read all the accounting opinion he / she can handle.

But is there any harm in setting up a web page with said budget translation and you let people know about it by email, twitter, sms, RSS and heaven forbid send out a letter, I know it may take two days to get there, but if the recipient doesn’t read emails or their internet is down you could be the first person not being interviewed by the papers to get your message across.

So yes, I agree we do all have to work towards a deadline but let’s make sure that quality doesn’t suffer because of it.

One exception, just pointed out to me is for the Airlines. If one drops its pants on corporate travel fares to New York, in the current climate, they all need to respond pretty quickly.

So do you still get those time pressures when sending an email, direct mail, twitter? Are any of you strong enough to push back, be that to internal stakeholders or as the agency to the client?